Strategy

Strategy is about saying no. “No” is hard.

Most people tend to take on more than they can possibly achieve. Attribute whatever rationale to it you want, but the result is the same. Position in a hierarchy doesn’t change that tendency.

We know this. We manage our time, every day. We never do all the things we could do, because there isn’t enough time.

The same is true of companies. No company can do it all.

As a company develops more hierarchy, the number of things it tries to do simultaneously often multiplies, and its ability to achieve them decreases.

At a senior level, strategy is almost all about the things you’ll say no to. There’s a never ending list of things begging you to say yes to them. You have the capacity to do one. Large organisations have the capacity to do a handful. Nobody has the capacity to do them all. If your strategy doesn’t say no to most things, it’s not an effective strategy.

Strategy is how you align the company around a small number of priorities and say, “Everything not on this list can wait.” Strategy is what tells everybody, at every level, to choose priority A over priority B.

Without a well-communicated strategy, everybody does what they think is best. Most people will do what benefits them, while telling themselves it benefits the company. Some people will do what benefits the company, even at personal expense. Regardless, the result of everybody prioritising work using their own criteria is that too much is being done simultaneously, and much of it doesn’t fit together.

Sound strategy is difficult to talk about. Not because what I’m saying new to most people, but because most published strategies aren’t worth the paper they’re written on, and nobody likes it when it’s pointed out that the emperor is naked.

I see strategies that mainly fall into a few categories:

1. Continue doing everything. Try to satisfy every market, and every niche. Don't upset anybody inside the company. These don’t allow anybody to say no.
2. Word salad. Fill multiple pages with words, but don’t say anything of value, or concrete. Offer comfort, but not direction. These don’t tell anybody what to say no to.
3. List goals. Anything that says, “Be the best…”, “Capture the market…”, “Maximise profits…” falls into this category. These are aspirations, not strategies.

A solid strategy usually fits on 1/2–1 side of A4 paper. It identifies the problem the strategy is addressing, the principles that guide solving that problem, and a set of concrete actions that will be taken to solve it.

Most organisations can’t tell you what problem they’re facing, or how they’re going to solve it.

Strategy should be at the core of what organisations do. It’s worth taking the time to do it, and do it well. And more than that, it’s worth making it accessible, with simple, straightforward language.

Think about everything your company is up to. Then sit down and try to articulate exactly what the company is trying to achieve. What isn't being done? Where isn't money being spent? If you can't identify where the company consciously says, 'No,' the odds are good that your strategy needs work.

Next, think about what problem the company is trying to solve. Can it be articulated easily? Is it specific? Is it clear which things shouldn't be worked on?

Last, look at funding in the company. Are there some things that were being done before, but which have been stopped, due to being in conflict with the strategy? If nothing is ever stopped, there's probably no strategy. And I don't mean haphazardly stopped, I mean deliberately shut down, due to a conscious choice not to pursue them, at this time.

The signs of effective strategy are pretty easy to recognise. They don't guarantee that the company will be successful, merely that the company, and everybody in it, knows what it's trying to achieve, what needs to be done, and what needs to not be done.